The listing or discussion of an apparently prior-published document in this specification should not necessarily be taken as an acknowledgement that the document is part of the state of the art or common general knowledge.
Drug addiction is a worldwide problem, of which opioid dependence is a major component. Opioids and opiates are highly addictive. People often start using illegal opioids, such as heroin (diamorphine), for recreational purposes, but this commonly leads to dependency.
That said, a new cohort of opioid-dependent individuals has begun to emerge in the last decade or so, particularly in the US, namely so-called ‘white collar’ addicts, who have become dependent upon prescription opioids, typically initiated for the treatment of pain.
This occurs because of the increasingly extensive use of medicinal opioids as analgesics, in the treatment of moderate to severe, chronic cancer pain, as well as acute pain (e.g. during recovery from surgery and breakthrough pain). Further, their use is increasing in the management of chronic, non-malignant pain.
People who become addicted to prescription opioids sometimes move on to illicit (‘street’) drugs, such as heroin. This may be because heroin is cheaper and (relatively speaking) easier to obtain than a prescription opioid.
It was estimated in 2010 that there were 15.5 million opioid-dependent people globally. Prevalence in Australasia, Western Europe, and North America was higher than the global-pooled prevalence. According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction Report in 2017, there were an estimated 1.3 million high-risk opioid users in Europe in 2016. The opioid crisis has affected the US especially, and this has escalated during recent years.
Thus, opioid dependence is a major health problem and long-term opioid use is connected to a substantially increased risk of premature death from drug overdoses, violence and suicide, as well as various other well publicized health issues, with an increasingly burgeoning socio-economic impact in terms of cost of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal activity (see Florence et al, Med. Care., 54, 901 (2016)).
Opioid addicts typically feed their addiction by direct purchase of opioids ‘on the street’, in the form of opioid-based powders (such as heroin). Heroin is usually mixed (or ‘cut’) with additives prior to sale by drug dealers, the amount and identity of which is almost always unknown to the abuser. Furthermore, there is an increasing number of addicts being sold, and abusing, more potent opioids intended for the treatment of e.g. pain, such as fentanyl and its analogues (see e.g. Prekupec et al, J. Addict. Med., 11, 256-265 (2017)).
Even without these additional issues, opioids are extremely dangerous drugs if not delivered under medical supervision. As there are no quality controls on illicit drugs that are sold, particularly in relation to the purity and strength issues discussed above, the whole process is something of a ‘lottery’, which serves to add to the danger and likelihood of overdose.
Overdose of opioids leads to depressed heart rate and breathing, leading to hypoxia. Hypoxia not only leads to short- and long-term effects on the central nervous system, including coma and permanent brain damage, but often leads to fatality. Overdoses of opioids, particularly heroin are very common. In 2015, drug overdoses accounted for 52,404 US deaths, of which 33,091 (63.1%) involved an opioid (see Rudd et al, MMWR, 65, 1445 (2016)). It is not unheard of for people to overdose the very first time they use heroin.
A subject that has overdosed on an opioid requires urgent medical attention. The only medicines that can be employed to treat opioid overdoses effectively are opioid receptor antagonists, which act by binding to opioid receptors, displacing opioid agonists (like heroin) without eliciting opioid effects of their own, whether intended (e.g. euphoria) or unintended and/or potentially dangerous (including respiratory depression). Emergency administration of opioid antagonists can reduce (sometimes completely) the degree of opioid intoxication and, in essence, ‘reverse’ an opioid overdose.
Opioid antagonists are administered as intravenous solutions in Accident and Emergency departments hospitals by medically-qualified staff. However, outside of the hospital environment, there are relatively few treatments available for the treatment of an opioid overdose (or a suspected overdose).
Two such treatments that are available commercially comprise the opioid antagonist, naloxone, delivered in the form of a single dose either as a liquid nasal spray (Narcan®; which is sprayed directly into one nostril), or as an auto-injector (Evzio®; which delivers drug by injection into the muscle or under the skin). These treatments are often employed by first responders (i.e. non-medically qualified personnel, such as ambulance crews, paramedics, police officers, family members, friends or other caregivers), buying time until more qualified medical assistance is available.
These products are undoubtedly effective in helping to save lives. Naloxone and other opioid antagonists are highly water soluble drugs, which enables the dissolution of an effective dose of e.g. naloxone in a small quantity of liquid (100 μL) in a product like Narcan to treat opioid overdose. This enables it to act quickly in an emergency situation.
However, in about one third of cases, Narcan is known to require two or more doses in order to effect reversal of the overdose. Furthermore, Narcan has the disadvantage that it should not be allowed to freeze (otherwise it cannot be dispensed). This is a problem in cold climates, for example if the product is left inside a first responder's vehicle overnight.
Evzio, on the other hand, is a parenteral product that requires a needle, presenting a significant problem to some first responders.
Because of the huge increase in overdose deaths from opioid misuse, there is considerable demand for opioid overdose prevention medications, and also a clear clinical need for alternative and/or improved medications, in terms of their strength, onset and duration of action, as well as reproducibility and reliability in an emergency situation, which treating an opioid overdose undoubtedly is.
In addition to the commercial product, Narcan, liquid intranasal sprays are also disclosed in international patent application WO 2018/064672 and US patent applications US 2018/0092839A and US 2019/0070105A.
Dry powder formulations comprising opioid antagonists that may be administered by inhalation or intranasally are known from inter alia international patent applications WO 2010/142696 and WO 2019/038756, and US patent application US 2018/0092839A.
Russo et al (J. Pharm. Sci., 95, 2253 (2006)) discloses spray-drying the opioid analgesic compound, morphine, with numerous excipients. Spray-dried formulations are also disclosed in Vengerovich et al., Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine, 163, 737 (2017), where it was attempted to microencapsulate naloxone in various substances, including 2-hydroxpropyl-β-cyclodextrin, with a view to developing sustained-release preparations based on polymeric carriers for emergency care.
Sucrose esters are a class of natural and biodegradable non-ionic surfactants consisting of a hydrophilic sugar ‘head group’ esterified with fatty acids. The properties of sugar esters depend on the nature of the sugar and fatty acids used, and the degree of esterification of the sugar. They are made from natural products, sugar and edible fats, are tasteless, odourless and biodegradable, and are relatively nontoxic with a recommended acceptable daily intake of up to 30 mg/kg (joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)). Sugar esters, and in particular sucrose esters, are widely used in the food and cosmetics industries but, thus far, are relatively underutilised in pharmaceutical formulations (see, for example, the review article by Szüts and Szabó-Révész in Int. J. Pharm., 433, 1 (2012)).
Sucrose esters are known to be excellent oil-in-water-type emulsifiers. For example, emulsion-based compositions comprising sucrose esters are described in international patent application WO 2005/065652. See also international patent application WO 2003/061632.
Sucrose esters have also been employed to improve the bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs, such as ciclosporin in perorally administered dosage forms (see Hahn and Sucker, Pharm. Res., 6, 958 (1989)). (It is to be noted that naloxone and other opioid antagonists are highly water-soluble.)
Other peroral dosage forms comprising sucrose esters are described in inter alia international patent application WO 2016/016431.
International patent applications WO 2015/095389 and WO 2018/089709, and U.S. Pat. No. 9,895,444, also disclose that related compounds, sugar ethers and in particular alkyl glycosides, can increase the bioavailability of opioid compounds in liquid nasal sprays. Sucrose esters are also mentioned in this document. Furthermore, Kürti et al investigated the effect of sucrose esters on epithelial permeability in a culture model (see Toxicology in Vitro, 26, 445 (2012)), and Li et al investigated the effect of various surfactants, including sucrose laurate, in in vivo absorption studies in rats, using sumatriptan as a model drug substance (see Drug Delivery, 23, 2272 (2016)).
However, to the applicant's knowledge, there is no reported use of sucrose esters in solid (e.g. powder) formulations intended for intranasal delivery.
We have now unexpectedly found that it is possible to formulate opioid antagonists in the form of dry powder compositions, that provide for a surprising and substantial improvement in bioavailability of opioid antagonist, as well as, even more surprisingly, an increase in the speed of absorption of opioid antagonist, compared to commercially-available products. In particular, we have found that compositions that are produced by a process of spray-drying with a specific combination of carrier materials as disclosed hereinafter, and/or similar dry powder compositions that comprise an alkyl saccharide, such as a sucrose ester, are capable of giving rise to these unexpected effects.